A. sp. Blue head?

[Joost S]

My apisto's settled in their new tank. The female (photo three in thread: LINK ) got the yellow colour and the dark black lining.

As I mentioned before I purchased three of them. The other two are males, but don't really look alike. One is similar to the female with the grey markings. The other one is more plain in a light gray/blue color. Both of them try to win the female for them, with all the likely consequences....

Male 1

Male 2 (is the same one as in the other thread)

Anyone an idea which one 'belongs to' the female. And whether they are the same species?

 

[Mike Wise]

I cannot say for sure, based on the available photos. If they are Blue-heads, you would expect that some fish would look more like one species while others would look more like the other species.

 

[Apisto Mike]

They appear to be Apistogramma eunotus to me. I would try feeding them them some live foods to see if they are the algodon variety, be cause my male Apistogramma eunotus 'Algodon' displays the same vertical bars along the flank that yours do no matter what mood he is in. If it is the algodon variety the tail will develop a nice orange coloration to it when fed live foods. I would also recommend moving the less dominant male from the tank as the dominant male will beat the snot out him time and time again. My male eunotus almost killed my male triple red cac when they were in the same tank.

 

[Mike Wise]

Vertical bars along the flanks are characteristic of all apistos. They are more prominent on some than on others. Neither male shows a split vertical bar in Bar 5, 6, or 7, nor an orange patch at the base of the pectoral fins, which are diagnostic of eunotus-complex species. They all show abdominal streaks, characteristic of other regani-group complexes, like the resticulosa-, caetei-, & urteagai-complexes. I still am not sure what species your fish actually is. They are not as deep-bodied (high-backed) as most Blue-heads. The more I look at them the more I think that they may be A. sp. Wangenflecken/Cheek-spots.

 

[Apisto Mike]

Now that you mention it Mike, the males in the pictures do not have as high a back as my euntos. Other then that they look almost identical. I guess I will have to psot a photo to get your opinion on whether they are real eunotus 'algodon'.

 

[Joost S]

@ Apisto Mike; I would love to see a pic of your fish!

I will try to get some new photo's this weekend. And see what they look than. They indeed don't have the orange/red spot just behind the pectoral fins. They do have a redish spot at the site of the 7th band.
The caudal (?) fins of the male have a light blue first ray which ends orange. In contrast to the female which is clearly just black.

What I can also do is make a drawing of the fish. I used to study biology almost 20 years ago, so maybe I have something left of al these hours of drawing beetles, cow eyes and fish? Can that help you?